--- title: Modern art: "my little brother could do that" — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Modern art: "my little brother could do that"», a lesson of the arts course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Modern art is a loose name for art from about the 1860s to the 1970s, and people often use it for newer art too; much of it car --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Arts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/) / Modern art: "my little brother could d… # Modern art: "my little brother could do that" Lesson 18 of the arts course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/0/) — Modern art is a loose name for art from about the 1860s to the 1970s, and people often use it for newer art too; much of it cares more about an idea or a feeling than about being pretty. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/1/) — Picture Alfie at the Tate Modern scoffing at a canvas of one colour: copying it is easy now, but the artist was among the first to try the idea, and people still argue whether it is great art; both opinions are allowed. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/2/) — Some modern art is a puzzle about what art even is: a shop-bought urinal signed with a fake name, a banana taped to a wall, a pile of sweets visitors may take, or a dark room of mirrors and lights that seems to go on for ever. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/3/) — A fair test is to give it a real look first: stand in front of it for a minute, ask what idea the artist was testing and what it makes you think, then decide; art can aim to be beautiful, but also to shock, ask questions, make people laugh or help them remember. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/4/) — People react in their own slang: "you're having a laugh" means you must be joking, "dodgy" means suspicious, "it's giving space" means it feels like outer space, "pet" in the North East means dear, and "bruv" in London means mate. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/5/) — Abstract art does not show recognisable things; some artists painted one colour or simple shapes on purpose to make people think about colour, size and feeling. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/6/) — Whether such paintings are great art is argued: some say they are powerful in real life, others say they are a joke. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/7/) — In 1917 Marcel Duchamp sent a shop-bought urinal, signed "R. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/8/) — Mutt", to an art show, asking who decides what art is; an everyday object shown as art is called a readymade. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/9/) — Jackson Pollock laid huge canvases on the floor and dripped and flung paint with control; people still argue about the skill, and painters who try to copy it usually find it hard. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/11/) — People argue whether the banana is a clever joke about money and art or proof that the art market is silly. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/12/) — Louise Bourgeois made giant spider sculptures called Maman, French for mummy; she said the spider stood for her mother, who repaired tapestries, patient and protective. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/13/) — The Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama makes Infinity Mirror Rooms where mirrors and lights make the space look endless; art that fills a room is called an installation. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/14/) — In the 1960s Andy Warhol and other Pop artists made art from adverts, famous faces and supermarket products such as soup cans, printing images again and again. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/15/) — Felix Gonzalez-Torres made a pile of sweets weighing the same as his partner, who was ill; visitors may take sweets, the pile shrinks, and the gallery refills it. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/16/) — Minimalism is art that uses very little, like simple shapes; whether a nearly empty work is deep or a con is argued. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/18-modern-art-my-little-brother-could-do-that/17/) — Art can aim to be beautiful, but also to shock, ask questions, make people laugh or remember something. - ← previous: [Museums and galleries: how to visit and what is there](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/17-museums-and-galleries-how-to-visit-and-what-is-there/) - next →: [Street art and graffiti: legal walls vs vandalism](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/19-street-art-and-graffiti-legal-walls-vs-vandalism/) - ↑ back to [Arts](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/arts/)